asked Her Majesty's Government:
What trends they have identified in illegal drug taking in the Armed Forces since random testing was introduced. [HL3040]
Identified trends in illegal drug taking in the Armed Forces are:
Rates of positive tests for the Army initially fell during the first two years when random tests were introduced (from 1.4 per cent in 1995 to 0.7 per cent in 1996). More recently, positive results for the Armed Forces overall have fluctuated but increased from 0.53 per cent in 2000 to 0.65 per cent in 2006.
The misuse of class A drugs has risen for each of the services and increased for the Armed Forces as a whole from 42.5 per cent of positive results in 2000 to 56.9 per cent in 2006.
Further information is shown in the table below:
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Royal Navy: Positive rates among those tested 0.35% 0.39% 0.33% 0.41% 0.39% 0.37% 0.46% Percentages of positives which were class A 55.3% 44.0% 30.2% 62.5% 55.3% 76.6% 79.0% Army: Positive rates among those tested 0.59% 0.65% 0.58% 0.56% 0.69% 0.83% 0.74% Percentages of positives which were class A 41.2% 49.5% 46.5% 47.0% 37.2% 61.2% 55.0% Royal Air Force: Positive rates among those tested 0.12% 0.13% 0.09% 0.15% 0.21% 0.16% 0.14% Percentages of positives which were class A 35.7% 39.0% 30.0% 20.0% 45.8% 57.1% 66.7% Armed Forces overall: Positive rates among those tested 0.53% 0.57% 0.50% 0.49% 0.61% 0.71% 0.65% Percentages of positives which were class A 42.5% 48.8% 45.0% 47.5% 38.7% 62.0% 56.9%